Working for Conventions

The benefit of dropping convention staffing as a hobby: no more delivering results in return for emotional abuse and little compensation. I can count on one hand - and have fingers left over - the times I was ever thanked by my con supervisor for the work I did or shown any appreciation for the time spent. I'm pretty light on material compensation (I'll settle for a room and occasional snack), but the intangible elements matter a lot!

There were (sometimes) the generic "We all did great," but never any one-on-one. In fact, in the worst cases, all the personal feedback time would be spent on one or two mistakes with no mention of the successes at all. This isn't even specific to a single con - it's a frighteningly common flaw in how a lot of cons operate and probably why there is frequent turn-over. People won't work where they don't feel valued or respected for their contributions.

It can usually be pegged to specific personality types within the groups. Constantly negative people are the subgroup I've seen most responsible for this issue at several conventions. They are incapable of praising others or in celebrating the success of others - even underlings - and should therefore never be promoted to any supervisory positions.

They give off easily detectable warning signs, too. For example: when you tell them of an accomplishment, they jump straight to raising an objection to it to suppress the mood. If you tell them you were able to bypass a blockade to get vital information for the con, they'll go on about how you have to follow protocol. If you follow protocol, they'll complain about how you could have saved time by going around it. It's not about the specific achievement; it's about them making sure you don't feel good about it.

Put them in a position of authority and now any success of someone under them they'll turn into a failure to the face of that worker, while either ignoring or twisting any positive aspects. The effect is that those under them wear out, some quickly and some slowly, as they act as a grindstone on the soul to wear it away steadily.

There are supervisors who are good at remembering the power of praise to get results. I once saw a guy buy gifts for those under him to congratulate them on a job well done. That was a great example of a leader who inspires his team to work harder next year. However, they are not common enough. I can say there were one or two cons that, on the whole, I had positive experiences with, but it's just not enough to continue keeping it up as a viable hobby. Better for me to invest the time and effort into other projects.